096 Agroforestry: it’s treemendous

Tonight I’m heading over to the Cambridgeshire Fens to talk to farmer and head of Soil & Water at Innovation for Agriculture, Steve Briggs @Steve95226621

We talk about the area that he farms in, and it’s unique landscape, before going on to hear about his early days as a design engineer and why he eventually re-trained in Agriculture, specialising in soils.

We discuss his travels in Africa and India, working on projects helping to develop soils there, and some of his highlights of that time, before his return to England to work as a consultant with organic farmers (the only people interested in soils at that time!).

We then talk about how after several attempts to get a tenancy, he and his wife were successful in 2007, and moved onto a Cambridge county council farm. We discuss the state of the farm when they arrived and how he converted it to organic status, before hearing by chance about this thing called Agroforestry!

We talk in depth about how that led to him doing a Nuffield Scholarship in the subject, which saw him travel all around the World, including to China, where he saw some extremely impressive systems, and how he then applied it to his own farm at home. We hear about what it is, how he started it, and the multiple benefits it’s delivered, both economically and environmentally.

We also talk about their latest venture on the farm, a farm shop! www.harvestbarn.co.uk , and their plans for the future.

All this, and much, much more.

This is genuinely one of the most interesting podcast interviews I’ve done so far, it was an absolute pleasure talking to Steve tonight.